Quick Tips: Logic + Screensets

Quick Tips: Logic + Screensets

Jan 26, 2021

Logic Screensets

One thing that’s really useful when dealing with a busy project in Logic is ‘Screensets’ and moving away from Logic to work in another app without this kind of feature highlights its usefulness … so what are they?

Screensets give Logic the ability to set the screen layout, configure windows and save this so it can be instantly recallable. Existing keyboard short cuts to bring up things like the mixer window or media pool are handy and you can of course, configure the control bar to bring up editors or controls at the push of a mouse button. However, you still have to navigate to the control bar to do this and often key commands are multiple key combos to bring up certain windows.

The beauty of Screensets is that they are saved to number keys, so you can set a window, lock it to a particular number and recall it at the push of a single button when dealing with single figure numbers (0-9).

Why is this useful? Well, in the context of a live set it means you can have different windows that show you completely different objects, mixer channel areas, plug in’s or tracks. If you have a busy Logic arrangement with multiple audio / MIDI / VI channels, there’s no need to scroll to a channel you want to look at in the arrange window or move the mixer focus until you find the channel you want, you can save the position of that window as it stands and jump back to it repeatedly .. in an instant.

Also if you were running a plugin like a sync based AU that needs checking periodically to be sure sync is good, then saving the plug in view as a Screenset makes total sense, instead of going thru the process of locating the channel, navigating to the plugin slot and opening the plugin etc .. 

 Especially if the computer is playing back audio live at that moment a slip of the hand or wrong button press could have serious consequences to the show. With a Screenset you are just pressing a single key and Boom you recall a completely different window setup exactly the way you want it.

It could be used to ..

  • View 'Only MIDI Tracks' and 'Only Audio tracks' at certain moments.

  • View certain plug ins when they need to be focused periodically.

  • Zoom arrange sections with markers to see an upcoming cue or check a jump to a marker for next song playback is correct.

  • View specific mixer layouts like ‘Only Buss O/P’s’ to check O/P levels quickly during a gig or ‘Only Instrument channels’ to see incoming MIDI triggering when I know it’s about to happen.

  • Bring up a giant bars/beats display or SMPTE display in certain circumstances.

 

There’s no limit to what you can recall with Screensets and the minute you begin using them you wonder why it took so long to find the feature ..

 How to Do it:

- Look along Logic’s top menu, between the ‘Window’ and ‘Help’ options you’ll see a number probably ‘1’ if it’s a new project.

 - Try pressing the other numbers and watch the screen layout and display change to show different views.

- Now go back to number 1 and check that the word ‘Lock’ is showing in the menu. This means that the Screenset is ready to be configured, before locking.

- Next arrange the screen how you want, to display the desired CH, Plug In etc.

- Finally navigate down the drop down menu to ‘Lock’ and select it. This locks the layout for recall.

- Do the same with other numbers … dial in the number, setup the screen and lock. You know when a screen is locked as a small dot appears next to the number in the menu. See this pic number '2'.

If you need to change the layout you simply recall the number and navigate to ‘unlock’ on the drop-down menu, which then allows you to change the screen or just forget about the Screenset entirely.

 Now you can recall specific views at will and save your favourites for instant, slick viewing .. nice!

More Logic quick tips coming soon ..

Visit https://musos.tech for further 1:1 tech assistance!

//MuSOS - 'We Can Help'

 

 

 

 

 

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